The present invention relates generally to field of surge protection, and more particularly to a mounting system for one or more radio frequency (RF) surge arrestor devices.
Telephone and cable lines provide a means for carrying signals (e.g., RF signal transmissions) between network components and commercial equipment. However, to support normal operation, the design of these network lines inherently allow for conduction of high voltage. Occasionally, lightning strikes, switching surges, transients, noise, incorrect connections, and other abnormal conditions generate unexpected power surges, or spikes, which can be a significantly high voltage value that is above the designated level of electric flow across the network lines. If the power surge is high, it can inflict heavy damage to, or even destroy sensitive components within, the network. Network providers have developed a variety of protective devices that function to control the electric flow across network lines by blocking or shorting the power surges to ground if they rise above a safe threshold.
In particular, surge arrestors are employed to protect telecommunication equipment used in RF signal transmission routes from sudden changes in electric flow, or from an introduction of an electrical transient. In one such application, multiple surge arrestors are provided in a common area, where each surge arrestor is designated for separate pieces of telecommunication equipment. A common mounting technique involves assembling the plurality of surge arrestors to a rack in a stackable configuration. Although configured to occupy a compact space, the present mounting designs require an involved process for installing and removing an individual surge arrestor. As such, the accessibility for repair and replacement, as well as the ability to efficiently diagnose network failures, has been severely limited.